Cliff

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Cliff

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The Trango Towers in Pakistan. Their vertical faces are the world’s tallest cliffs. Trango Tower center; Trango Monk center left; Trango II far left; Great Trango right.

Europe’s highest cliff, Troll Wall in Norway, a famous BASE jumping location for jumpers from around the world.

In geography and geology, a cliff is a vertical, or nearly vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms by the processes of weathering and erosion. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually formed by rock that is resistant to weathering and erosion. Sedimentary rocks most likely to form cliffs include sandstonelimestonechalk, and dolomiteIgneous rocks such as granite and basalt also often form cliffs.

An escarpment (or scarp) is a type of cliff, formed by the movement of a geologic fault or landslide, or by differential erosion of rock layers of differing hardness.

Most cliffs have some form of scree slope at their base. In arid areas or under high cliffs, they are generally exposed jumbles of fallen rock. In areas of higher moisture, a soil slope may obscure the talus. Many cliffs also feature tributary waterfalls or rock shelters. Sometimes a cliff peters out at the end of a ridge, with mushroom rocks or other types of rock columns remaining. Coastal erosion may lead to the formation of sea cliffs along a receding coastline.

The Ordnance Survey distinguishes between cliffs (continuous line along the top edge with projections down the face) and outcrops (continuous lines along lower edge).

The far southwestern aspect of Nanga Parbat‘s Rupal face, highest cliff (rock wall/mountain face) in the world. The steepest part of the face is 2 km to the northeast.

Etymology[edit]

Cliff comes from the Old English word clif of essentially the same meaning, cognate with Dutch, Low German, and Old Norse klif ‘cliff’.[1] These may in turn all be from a Romance loanword into Primitive Germanic that has its origins in the Latin forms clivus / clevus (“slope” or “hillside”).[2][3]

Large and famous cliffs[edit]

The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

Cliffs near Sortavala, Russia

The Matengai in Oki Islands, Japan

Cliffs along the north shore of IsfjordSvalbard, Norway.

Cliffs on the western shoreline of Sam Ford Fjord, Canada

Kaliakra cape rocks, Bulgaria

Close-up view of Verona Rupes, a 20 km high fault scarp on Miranda, a moon of Uranus.[4]

Vihren’s 460 m north face seen from Golemiya KazanPirin Mountain, Bulgaria

Vratsata gorge, Vrachanski Balkan MountainsBulgaria

Given that a cliff does not need to be exactly vertical, there can be ambiguity about whether a given slope is a cliff or not and also about how much of a certain slope to count as a cliff. For example, given a truly vertical rock wall above a very steep slope, one could count just the rock wall or the combination. Listings of cliffs are thus inherently uncertain.

Some of the largest cliffs on Earth are found underwater. For example, an 8,000 m drop over a 4,250 m span can be found at a ridge sitting inside the Kermadec Trench.

The highest very steep non-vertical cliffs in the world are Nanga Parbat‘s Rupal Face and Gyala Peri‘s southeast face, which both rise approximately 4,600 m, or 15,000 ft, above their base. According to other sources, the highest cliff in the world, about 1,340 m high, is the east face of Great Trango in the Karakoram mountains of northern Pakistan. This uses a fairly stringent notion of cliff, as the 1,340 m figure refers to a nearly vertical headwall of two stacked pillars; adding in a very steep approach brings the total drop from the East Face precipice to the nearby Dunge Glacier to nearly 2,000 m.

The location of the world’s highest sea cliffs depends also on the definition of ‘cliff’ that is used. Guinness World Records states it is Kalaupapa, Hawaii,[5] at 1,010 m high. Another contender is the north face of Mitre Peak, which drops 1,683 m to Milford Sound, New Zealand.[6] These are subject to a less stringent definition, as the average slope of these cliffs at Kaulapapa is about 1.7, corresponding to an angle of 60 degrees, and Mitre Peak is similar. A more vertical drop into the sea can be found at Maujit Qaqarssuasia (also known as the ‘Thumbnail‘) which is situated in the Torssukátak fjord area at the very tip of South Greenland and drops 1,560 m near-vertically.[7]

Considering a truly vertical drop, Mount Thor on Baffin Island in Arctic Canada is often considered the highest at 1370 m (4500 ft) high in total (the top 480 m (1600 ft) is overhanging), and is said to give it the longest vertical drop on Earth at 1,250 m (4,100 ft). However, other cliffs on Baffin Island, such as Polar Sun Spire in the Sam Ford Fjord, or others in remote areas of Greenland may be higher.

The highest cliff in the solar system may be Verona Rupes, an approximately 20 km (12 mi) high fault scarp on Miranda, a moon of Uranus.

List[edit]

The following is an incomplete list of cliffs of the world.

Asia[edit]

Above Sea

Above Land

  • Nanga Parbat, Rupal Face, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, 4,600 m
  • Gyala Peri, southeast face, Mêdog CountyTibet, China, 4,600 m
  • Ultar Sar southwest face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 3,000 m
  • Qingshui CliffXiulin TownshipHualien County, Taiwan averaging 800 m above Pacific Ocean. The tallest peak, Qingshui Mountain, rises 2408 meters directly from the Pacific Ocean.
  • Trango Towers: East Face Great Trango Tower, Baltoro Muztagh, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 1,340 m (near vertical headwall), 2,100 m (very steep overall drop from East Summit to Dunge Glacier). Northwest Face drops approximately 2,200 m to the Trango Glacier below, but with a taller slab topped out with a shorter overhanging headwall of approximately 1,000 m. The Southwest “Azeem” Ridge forms the group’s tallest steep rise of roughly 2,286 m (7,500 ft) from the Trango Glacier to the Southwest summit.
  • Uli Biaho TowersBaltoro Glacier, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan
  • Baintha Brakk (The Ogre), Panmah Muztagh, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 2,000 m
  • The Latok Group, Panmah Muztagh, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 1,800 m
  • Spantik northwest face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 2,000 m
  • Shispare Sar southwest face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 3,200 m
  • Hunza Peak south face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 1,700 m
  • Lhotse south face, Mahalangur Himal, Nepal, 3200 m
  • Lhotse northeast face, Mahalangur Himal, Nepal, 2900m
  • K2 west face, Karakoram, Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, 2900m
  • Meru PeakUttarakhand, India, 1200 m
  • Ramon Crater, Israel, 400 m
  • Various cliffs in the Ak-Su Valley of Kyrgyzstan are high and steep.
  • World’s End, Horton Plains, Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. It has a sheer drop of about 4000 ft (1200 m)
  • Various cliffs in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Hunan Province, China. The cliffs can get to around 1,000 ft (300 m).

Europe[edit]

Above Sea

Above Land

North America[edit]

Mount ThorBaffin IslandNunavut, Canada, commonly regarded as the highest vertical drop on Earth

Southwest face of El Capitan from Yosemite Valley

The face of Notch Peak at sunset

Ketil’s west face in Tasermiut, Greenland

Several big granite faces in the Arctic region vie for the title of ‘highest vertical drop on Earth’, but reliable measurements are not always available. The possible contenders include (measurements are approximate):

Mount ThorBaffin Island, Canada; 1,370 m (4,500 ft) total; top 480 m (1600 ft) is overhanging. This is commonly regarded as being the largest vertical drop on Earth [2][2][citation needed]ot:leapyear at 1,250 m (4,100 ft).

  1. The sheer north face of Polar Sun Spire, in the §74:MTAtoFa

of Baffin Island, rises 4,300 ft above the flat frozen fjord, although the lower portion of the face breaks from the vertical wall with a series of ledges and buttresses.[10]

  1. Ketil’s and its neighbor Ulamertorsuaq‘s west faces in TasermiutGreenland have been reported as over 1,000 m high.[11][12][13] Another relevant cliff in Greenland is Agdlerussakasit‘s Thumbnail.[14]

Other notable cliffs include:

South America[edit]

Salto Angel from Isla Ratón, Venezuela.

Africa[edit]

Above Sea

Above Land

  • Drakensberg Amphitheatre, South Africa 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above base, 5 km (3.1 mi) long. The Tugela Falls, the world’s second tallest waterfall, falls 948 m (3,110 ft) over the edge of the cliff face.
  • Mount Meru, Tanzania Caldera Cliffs, 1,500 m (4,900 ft)
  • Tsaranoro, Madagascar, 700 m (2,300 ft) above base
  • Karambony, Madagascar, 380 m (1,250 ft) above base.
  • Innumerable peaks in the Drakensberg mountains of South Africa are considered cliff formations. The Drakensberg Range is regarded, together with Ethiopia’s Simien Mountains, as one of the two finest erosional mountain ranges on Earth. Because of their near-unique geological formation, the range has an extraordinarily high percentage of cliff faces making up its length, particularly along the highest portion of the range.[citation needed] This portion of the range is virtually uninterrupted cliff faces, ranging from 600 m (2,000 ft) to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in height for almost 250 km (160 mi). Of all, the “Drakensberg Amphitheatre” (mentioned above) is most well known.[citation needed] Other notable cliffs include the Trojan WallCleft PeakInjisuthi TripletsCathedral PeakMonk’s CowlMnweni Buttress, etc. The cliff faces of the Blyde River Canyon, technically still part of the Drakensberg, may be over 800 m (2,600 ft), with the main face of the Swadini Buttress approximately 1,000 m (3,300 ft) tall.

Oceania[edit]

Above Sea

Above Land

As habitat determinants[edit]

Cliff landforms provide unique habitat niches to a variety of plants and animals, whose preferences and needs are suited by the vertical geometry of this landform type. For example, a number of birds have decided affinities for choosing cliff locations for nesting,[19] often driven by the defensibility of these locations as well as absence of certain predators.

See also[edit]

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